Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 1564 The Merit of Enlightenment

   During this journey, Emperor Hongzhi was tired and exhausted, but looking around, there was no family studying.

  Emperor Hongzhi's face darkened.

   Looking back at Fang Jifan, who was profusely sweating, Fang Jifan coughed, but remained silent.

   It was Xiao Jing who said: "Your Majesty, most of the people in the neighborhood here are vulgar. Although they can barely have food and clothing, they don't know... etiquette, Your Majesty, we don't... don't have to go on."

  Emperor Hongzhi shook his head, but suddenly smiled: "Why don't you take a look more? It's good to have a look, let's go, let's continue to look."

  He actually turned around another neighborhood, and continued asking Xiao Jing to inquire.

   This road has stabilized, but it is still disappointing.

Emperor Hongzhi heaved a sigh of relief, but remained silent, but suddenly asked Fang Jifan, "Jifan, this is where the prefecture is located, but in my opinion, ordinary people seem to be reluctant to study, but I don't know why. It is said that the literary style of this place is at its peak. , but I can’t see it at all.”

  Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt dull.

   Immediately waved his hand: "Go to the magistrate's yamen, Xiao Jing, you go to the magistrate's yamen to pass it on first."

  Xiao Jing clasped his hands: "The servant obeys the order."

  …

Wang Guang, the magistrate of Luzhou, was shocked when he heard the news, but after verifying Xiao Jing's identity, he knew it was true. Kneel at the gate of the yamen to welcome them.

   Not long after, the chariots and horses of Emperor Hongzhi arrived.

  But seeing Emperor Hongzhi get out of the car, followed by Fang Jifan, Wang Guang was very excited, and bowed down: "I have seen Your Majesty, Wang Guang, the magistrate of Luzhou."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, stepped into the yamen hall, ascended his seat, looked around, and said leisurely: "I am offering sacrifices to my ancestors in Fengyang. I have nothing to do. I just want to walk around. Let’s go, I don’t want to disturb the people, so I didn’t make a big fanfare.”

   As he spoke, he couldn't help but paused, pursed his lips, turned his gaze to Wang Guang, and asked.

   "I've heard for a long time that Luzhou Mansion's literary style is at its peak, and Wang Qing's family is like this?"

  Wang Guang didn't know, His Majesty first went to the neighborhood.

He didn't expect that His Majesty was the first to ask about the local folk customs, and his face flushed with excitement. You know, this is his real political achievement. His Majesty is now interested in this, obviously, he also came here for the name.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I am very ashamed. There is no style of writing in Luzhou Mansion, but... since I took office, I have advocated some ethos of reading. This enlightenment is the imperial court. The most important thing is that as a magistrate, I have an inescapable responsibility... I am ashamed, I am very ashamed, now that Your Majesty descended from the sky, and suddenly asked, I am even more terrified... terrified."

   This is obviously a polite remark.

  Actually, Wang Guang wished he could engrave on his forehead the best words that Lao Tzu had done in Luzhou Jiaohua.

After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help smiling, his eyes narrowed slightly, he picked up the teacup beside him, and took a sip of tea: "I have heard a lot about Luzhou Mansion, and I heard that your Luzhou Mansion is the best when it comes to enlightenment." , but I don’t know what the Luzhou Prefecture is proud of in terms of education.”

  Wang Guang was shocked, he knew that he was almost polite, and now it was time to show his true strength.

Wang Guangdao: "The year before last, in the Nanzhili Township Examination, there were 130 high school candidates. Luzhou Prefecture was not well-known in Nanzhili. In previous years, there were only six or seven people in the middle school. Fourteen."

   Speaking of this, Wang Guang's face turned red.

Twenty-four people, this is not a small number: "Furthermore, Chen Jinwen, a scholar of our government, topped the list and ranked first. The number of nine people is the highest in history. Not only that, there is also a good story in Luzhou. There is a family in Luzhou, surnamed Liu, who is the heir of Liu's poems and books. It can be seen that the family history of Jinshi in high school has been passed down to this day. There are 160 members of his clan, including 21 people who are middle-level scholars and five people who are middle-level candidates. Last year's imperial examination, To have brothers from three tribes enrolling at the same time, isn’t this just a school of three Jinshi?”

  When Wang Guang said this, his face was red, and he danced happily.

He continued: "There is another family, father and son, who are both Juren. This time when they entered Beijing, although the son failed, the father was admitted. The son is still young, and he will have a bright future in the future. This father and son are both Jinshi, Thinking about it is inevitable.”

"After the minister took office, he rebuilt the government school and cleaned up the style of study. In addition, all the scholars and candidates, as well as those who are subject to examinations, will be questioned one by one. The purpose is to let them have nothing to worry about. Over the years, the hard work has not been in vain. After they passed the imperial examination, most of them came here to express their gratitude. In fact, the most important thing about this imperial examination is to rely on yourself. What I can do is limited after all. I can give them some funding, or It is to collect some stereotyped articles, copy them, and send them to them. If there is even a little help for their admission, I will do my best."

to be frank…

  Wang Guang's political achievements are impeccable.

  It is indeed surprising that a government can produce so many Jinshi and Juren.

   It also shows that Wang Guang spent a lot of thought.

  If it was ten years ago, Emperor Hongzhi would have praised Wang Guang very much.

  But now...it feels weird.

  Wang Guang looked at Emperor Hongzhi's expressionless face, and thought to himself, it really is the emperor's unpredictable heart.

   After all, it was his first time meeting the Holy Spirit, and he accepted His Majesty's instructions, so he was still nervous.

  I was wondering if I was too humble at the beginning.

  Afterwards, I thought about whether what I said later was too much bragging, and it seemed that I was too sharp.

  Thinking over and over again, I feel uneasy.

  Suddenly, he remembered something: "Can Your Majesty move the holy car to the Houya House?"

  Emperor Hongzhi looked up at Wang Guang, raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked in surprise, "Really? Is there any mystery?"

  Wang Guang sold out.

   "Your Majesty will know it just by looking at it."

  Emperor Hongzhi was interested, and a smile could not help but appear on his face.

  Get up and follow Wang Guang to the Houya House.

This is Wang Guang's resting place when he was busy with official duties. When Emperor Hongzhi stepped into it, he saw that the room was full of books, which were neatly placed on the bookshelves. Looking around, it can be said that it is a world of books. .

Wang Guang's heart was full of emotions, his face was red, and he said excitedly: "Your Majesty, these... are all the articles I have collected since I took office, all the classics and stereotyped essays since Emperor Gaozu, In the dozens of imperial examinations held by the imperial court, I have exhausted my mind and thought of countless ways to collect and transcribe all the stereotyped subjects for admission, Your Majesty, please take a look..."

  He took out a manuscript and sent it to Emperor Hongzhi.

  Emperor Hongzhi opened the first page, and saw the familiar stereotyped inscriptions and broken inscriptions, which were densely packed.

"Your Majesty... the minister collected these and let the scholars under his rule borrow them and let them transcribe them themselves. The articles in this room are all masters of stereotyped scriptures. They all say that they have read three hundred Tang poems by heart. Can't write poems and can sing. I thought, if I can read the stereotyped three thousand articles, how can I take the imperial examination?"

  Wang Guang's mouth trembled with excitement, and his eyes couldn't help getting moist when he saw his hard work.

  In these years, I have put all my thoughts on this, and this is how the Luzhou Mansion's literary style flourishes, and with the Luzhou Mansion's contribution to enlightenment, now that His Majesty is here, my hard work is finally not in vain.

  Wang Guang was very proud. Not everyone had these books, and many of them were collected by himself.

  So he didn't pay attention to Emperor Hongzhi's expression, but continued to show off, as if talking about precious treasures.

"Because of this, the education of the minister is the best in the world in all the states. There are also these stereotyped essays, all of which are masterpieces selected by the minister and copied by the minister himself. When the minister was transcribing, I can feel the subtlety in the text rushing to my face..."

  Emperor Hongzhi suddenly said: "These stereotyped essays... Ruoqing's family is collecting and transcribing, so there is nothing else to do?"

  Suddenly such a question made Wang Guang stunned.

He looked at Emperor Hongzhi, as if he had poured a basin of cold water, his lips trembled, and then he said: "Your Majesty, enlightenment is the most important thing, as long as enlightenment is achieved, then we can cure by doing nothing... Naturally, everything can be... It will happen when it is done. The key to governance is people's hearts. The key to people's hearts is to educate. The most important thing to educate is to teach by precepts and deeds. Your Majesty...this...this..."

  Emperor Hongzhi looked at Wang Guang, and asked very seriously: "So... how many students have enrolled in the past few years?"

"This this…"

  Wang Guang naturally couldn't tell, he hesitated for a long time but couldn't come up with a specific number.

  Emperor Hongzhi said: "Since the emphasis is on enlightenment, then the study of benevolence and righteousness should be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. If everyone knows the book and reason, it will be a world of great governance. Is this... right?"

"Yep."

   "How many people in the Luzhou government can read and write, know benevolence and righteousness?"

   "This..." Wang Guang couldn't answer for a while, he said: "There are Jinshi in Luzhou Prefecture..."

  Emperor Hongzhi shook his head in disappointment: "What I want to know is, how many people are enrolled here, and how many people can learn benevolence, righteousness and shame, is it one out of ten, or three or four out of a hundred?"

  Wang Guang was a little confused, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

  His Majesty's question, he can't understand.

   Does this have something to do with enlightenment?

  The matter of enlightenment is the business of scholars.

  How does it have anything to do with ordinary people?

  Do ordinary people also have to study?

  For a moment Wang Guang didn't know what to do, but he hesitated and couldn't answer, his face turned slightly red, and he suddenly had an ominous premonition.

  (end of this chapter)